Time is Zipping By

Happy November to you!  I seriously can't believe how fast the month has already gone either. Crazy!!  Time seriously is zipping by!  Christmas is not NEARLY as big as it is in the US.  I guess lots of people celebrate it as a couples holiday...but a lot of the stores do have decorations that are kind of fun.  Yes there are transfers on the 12/2 so I don't know if I will stay here or not!  It's totally up in the air for now!  For my week...
Monday we had FHE.  We played jeopardy--the elders wrote all the questions.  I understood the ones about the gospel but was pretty lost the rest of the time.  It was funny.  It was also pepero day (those sticks dipped in chocolate) because it was 11.11 and the sticks look like the date (clever marketing scheme eh?) and so a bunch of the YM brought us pepero which was fun and we were happy about it of course!
Tuesday we once again tried to find less actives houses, started to plan our Christmas party and then taught our new investigator who we are doing 30/30 program with (aka 30 min English 30 min gospel.)  I
Wednesday, we went to the hospital with my best friend Harmony for her every-other week check-up!  She literally talked from 8:00 when we got there until 12:30 after we had gotten back and eaten lunch with her.  I zoned out for most of it.  She is funny.  It's all about all the service she has given, and stories about former mission presidents, and then every so often about how she is old and her legs are sore.  Then as we're about to leave she whips off her shirt (no she is not wearing anything underneath) so that we can put some cream on her sore shoulder.  I was dying. Oh Korea.   We also had English class that night, which is always one of the highlights of the week. I love teaching and asking stories, and thinking of funny stories to tell.
Thursday, we had district meeting.  We talked about how we can help get our investigators excited about reading the Book of Mormon.  My comp and I talked about finding scriptures that are specific to them and they can personally apply. We are excited to try this out as we teach this week!  Then we weekly planned, and taught English that night.  Friday, we went to our service project, did some oragami with old people, and then did exchanges. We jundoed and got a bunch of contacts--they have a really good area with lots of people to jundo in. 

don't think she has a ton of gospel interest right now, and her mind is pretty closed but we'll see what happens over the next few weeks. She is super nice and fun to talk to, and I could totally see her as like a YW leader or something one day! Guess we have to see people how the Lord sees them and what they can become, right?!
When we were on exchanges, my comp taught one of our new investigators and I guess that went really well.  They also taught the girl who is getting baptized on 12.1 so we're working on planning that baptism too!  (Of course we have to do exchanges on the exciting day right?!)
Saturday night was the adult session of stake conference.  It was all about..you guessed it!  Missionary Work!  It was actually really cool how they did it.  They had a girl who just got back from Seoul speak, then a man who just got back from serving with his wife, and then a recent convert, one of the APs, a current senior missionary serving here, the stake mission leader and then the stake president.  So basically got a bunch of missionary roles covered!  They said there were 35 converts in Busan stake this year, 49 missionaries currently serving in the stake, and 140 in the mission, which is up from 80 at this time last year!  They showed some of the video clips that are on LDS.org so it was neat to see those too!
Sunday was the general session and it was a broadcast from SLC just for Korea!  Bishop Davies, Sister Burton (whose husband was the mission president in Seoul West mission a few years back), Elder Cook and Elder Hales spoke.  A lot of the focus was on first, building faith, and second, the family.  So those are obviously the things that they are concerned about here in Korea, which my comp and I have now talked about being grateful for some more direction now we can focus on!  One of them (sorry don't remember who) said that we need to take ACTION to be an example.  I love this!  There is not time for us to just sit still and wait for the things going on around us.  We need to have courage to stand up and take action for what we know is right and what we know is our responsibility as members of Christ's church.  I loved how our stake mission leader talked about how we live like this, sharing the gospel should be a natural thing in our lives.  Just the way we live should invite others to come Christ!

Oh other random story for you.  I guess they sterilize the air here...?  There are trucks that go around spraying stuff in the air and I guess its supposed to clean it or something.  And the elders were saying in their building they got a knock on the door to leave because they were sterilizing the air in the building.  What the heck?!  Yeah there's quite a bit of pollution but I think its hilarious.  Only in Korea!

Well I am glad to hear you are all doing well.  I love you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!

Em

It was a good week!  I feel like we don't stop moving, but then I look back at the week and think "what did we even do?"  Here's a brief overview for you (I hope you like that I do this.  I figure its the best way to get info over)

Monday we had to go to Changwon, a city about an hour bus ride away because my comps back has been really sore and we had to go to a dr there who is a member.  So I got to see a new city which was fun.  On the bus ride back we laughed and laughed and laughed.  

Tuesday, was one of the busiest days which is a blessing of course!  We had lunch with a less active.  She is like 17, but her parents are divorced and live in Seoul so she and her brother live with their grandma but they have no money so she had to drop out of high school to work.  Its really sad, but she is cute and we had fun with her.  I don't think she totally understands the gospel, but we are going to keep trying to meet with her every few weeks and buy her lunch and hopefully get a good pokum (gospel) message across!  Then we visited one of our non-progressing investigators who was basically just best friends with my old comp (they're close to the same age.)  It was kind of weird, and she wasn't too excited to see us.  I think she just likes the social aspect of meeting with the missionaries.  So I don't know what we'll do about that.  Then we taught another lesson that night to a NEW INVESTIGATOR in Goejeong.  We met her on the bus and introduced our English program to her.  If they can't come to regular English class, we can teach them for 6 weeks 30 min gospel and 30 min English.  She lived in Sydney for a few years studying, and then taught English here so her English is really good.  She asked about the Book of Mormon, so I got to introduce that which I love (it was like half in English and half in Korean.  She wanted to hear it in English, but didn't know all the gospel words in English so that's where the Korean came in).  I guess when she lived in Sydney, she went to church EVERY MORNING because she loved the peace she felt when that preacher spoke.  She hasn't been attending here very frequently, however, so hopefully we can get her to come to church and feel the real peace and happiness that comes from the TRUE gospel!!  We meet with her again Tuesday

Wednesday, We had zone meeting.  They challenged us to share the miracles we see as we work with the members to help get them excited about the work we are doing, and further help them get excited to do missionary work themselves!  I thought it was brilliant.  Then that night, we taught our investigator that is set to get baptized on Dec 1!  We talked about the importance of reading the book of mormon, and how when we do so we are following the words of the prophet.  She is only like 15 but, is seriously so mature!  I love her!

Thursday, we had our service project and then taught English class in Goejeong.  And it was Halloween, so yes we wore Orange and Black (my comp does not like how they look together but I made her do it anyway haha) and ordered chicken that night haha #fatmissionaryprobs

Friday, we set up for our halloween party/fall festival at the church.  Then we did weekly planning.  If you don't know, this is like a 3 hour process that goes by SO FAST!  We are really trying to make planning a revelatory experience, and to really PLAN not just schedule our day.  We are excited about this week and have some good finding ideas!

Saturday, we tried to find less actives houses.  This is seriously a process here.  They changed the address system a few years ago, so there are two different systems and the old one makes absolutely no sense, but we can usually find them on the map.  The problem is none of the old addresses are on the houses so we have to take pictures of the map and pray that we go the right place.  We found houses, but most of the addresses are really old and people don't live there any more.  We'll keep working on it...  Then we had our halloween party!!  We got all the missionaries in our district to help and had games like bean bag toss, the donuts from a string (except donuts are super expensive so we just used cookies with a whole in the middle haha), pumpkin craft, fishing, bowling, bobbing for apples, and then just games like uno.  It turned out really fun!!  Then after, we had one of the elders play the violin and another play the guitar.  Then we did a skit of the mormon message "the coat" for our spiritual message and the Elders sang "Love is Spoken Here" while I played the piano.  It turned out really well and I think everyone had fun!  I'll send a pic of the group. 

Sunday, We had meetings of course.  I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting about sharing Christ's light.  We went to branch council in Goejeong which was really neat.  The branch is small, but it was so neat to see them all working together and really setting goals and plans to help the branch grow.  Then we had linner (3pm) with a member which was nice!  Like I said earlier, ate SO MUCH!  (Ok maybe it wasn't that much but my stomach was just nice and small from fasting) and then MCM. 

So overall, a great week!

So this morning, I started by studying the Book of Mormon and then somehow found my way to Romans 12.  I loved verse 21 "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."  I thought about how we can't let the evil things of the world affect us or weaken us.  Instead, we must live so that we are able to beat Satan, however clever he is.  As we get ride of unchristlike attributes, like pride, disobedience, pessimism, "slothfullness", etc, we will be able first to overcome that darn natural man inside of us.  Once we learn how to fight the evil, aka things that pull us away from Christ, we will have a better idea of what we need to do to envelop the evil with good.  Can't you just imagine when Christ comes and there is a big cloud that wraps all the bad, evil things of the world inside of it and sucks them in to a big black whole??  Christ has the power to do this, because Satan cannot have power over him.  As we become more like Christ, we will be able to start overcoming the evil things in the world by replacing them with good things.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said "The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known.  There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard.  The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team's jersey we want to wear!"  We just need to focus on how we can individually give ourselves more to the Savior and what we can do-however small it is each day- to become more like him and replace those evil habits, thoughts, actions, doubts, or whatever it is holding us back, with the things of God.  We are only able to do this as we trust in the Lord and rely on His atonement to bring us through whatever the current battle is.  It's like Peter walking on the water.  We we feel like we're sinking, we just need to cry out "Lord, save me" and IMMEDIATELY the lord will reach out to us, as say to us, I imagine with a smile on his face, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" and the winds will cease and we will be carried through by the light and love of our Savior Jesus Christ.  (Cue Hymn "The Lord is My Light")  Ah this is why I love the gospel.  It is so happy and makes so much sense!!! 

HELLOOOOO!!!!

HELLLOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

I am glad to hear that you had a great week. 

Quick update on my week:
Monday, we went bowling for FHE with a bunch of the young men in the ward.  It was pretty fun.  Only in Korea is the bowling alley on the fourth story of a big building...

Tuesday, we taught one of our investigators and committed her to a baptism date for December 1 which we are so excited about of course!  We still have lots to teach her, but we will be working towards that date:):)

Wednesday, we went to service, worked on some projects at the church, and taught English.

Thursday, we had MISSION TOUR!  Elder Scott D. Whiting came and spoke to us.  I only got to talk to him briefly.  He talked a lot about how as missionaries, we all have authority.  We were all set apart and given the same authority.  But, in order to be successful missionaries, we need POWER!  We need power as we teach, testify, serve, and share the light of Christ.  What this power is is the Holy Ghost!!!  When we teach, testify, serve, and share Christ's light, we HAVE to do it with the spirit!  The way that we are able to have the spirit more fully to develop this power is, you guessed it, be more obedient!!!  And when we are being disobedient, we are just being prideful, so we have to get all of that ugly pride out of the way, humble ourselves and be submissive to the will of the Lord!  He also said we need to testify with Boldness.  Sweet Boldness!  I loved thinking about Sweet Boldness.  In order to be bold, we don't need to go up to someone and sing some "Glory Glory Haleluiahs" and command them to repent (even though that may work for some people...not really my style).  What I take this as meaning is being able to share the love of Christ and be bold through our actions and make it so that everybody around us can feel the Savior's love.  It's pretty amazing.

Thursday night, we went to an orchestra concert.  The girl is in her 3rd year of Jr. High.  The Jr. High orchestra concert here was pretty legit.   They did a couple songs from the Sound of Music which I quite enjoyed...:)

Saturday, we worked on more of our projects at the church (making new boards with church info and stuff like that) and then because my comp was getting transfered, I treated us to dinner using Dad's card (thank you:)).  We went and got Vietnamese Pho which was pretty delicious.  Had to try something new!

Sunday, I spoke in Church about the Holy Ghost.  I had a scripture and a quote in there, and think it went pretty well!  It was only like 10 min, but still good:)

Then, this morning, we had transfer meeting!  I have a new companion.  I love her already!!  She speaks pretty good English, but I told her that she has to speak Korean to me so I can keep learning, and to fix my grammar too.   She is so positive and funny too.  It is going to be a fun transfer:)

So this week, I was reading in Mosiah 18:9 about standing as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places.  Yes we all know the scripture well, especially thanks to the Young Women's theme.  But I started thinking about this, and how we also need to stand in Holy Places.  Whoa--Connection!  As we stand as a witness of God, we are able to make where we stand that holy place, that has been talked about so much lately.  When we, as Mosiah 18 says, bear one another's burdens, are WILLING to mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort, etc, we will have the strength to do what the Savior would do and use that power of the spirit to make wherever we are a holy place.  Right now, I have Christ's name constantly pinned on my shirt, but as Elder Andersen said last conference, we can all paint that missionary name badge with Christ's name on our hearts:)

Oh cool fun fact.  President told us this morning that recently the church gave North Korea 310,000 apple trees that the planted there!!  Whoa!  Maybe we will be in there sooner than we think!

Well I guess that's about all for now!  I love you all so so so so much!!  The gospel is true and I'm so glad to get to share it!

Em

TYPHOON!

Hello!!  Glad to hear from you!  I love the weekly updates and hearing what is going on at home. 

I am sitting here in the Branch President's office at the church drinking a nice kind of cold coke-zero.  The only thing that would make it better if it was 1) real diet coke and 2) from the fountain but you do what you can right?!  Haha

The word for Tuesday was 태풍 aka tay-phoong.  Can you guess what that is?  TYPHOON!!!!!!!!  Remember when you asked me about it last week and I said that we hadn't really seen anything yet?  Well I spoke about 12 hours too soon.  It started raining Monday night and I don't think it stopped until Wednesday morning.  And when I say rain I mean RAIN!  I don't think I had experienced anything like it!  We jundo-ed in the subway for a lot of the day where it was dry, but had to go out for dinner and then to meet with one of our investigators, and I think I used my umbrella to block the wind more than the rain because I was soaked anyways.  Then our investigator canceled because it was too wet and she didn't want us to have to go all the way to her house, so we went home and called less actives instead.  My shoes didn't dry until Friday!!  Good thing I have a few pairs...  It was pretty fun though looking back on it! 

Wednesday, we had zone meeting.  The zone leaders taught about how we need to have faith in Jesus Christ, not just faith.  One of them said how when we went to the MTC, his dad said to him was "Don't look to the sides.  Look up!"  I have thought about this a lot this week.  It reminds me of the talk you sent me by Elder Carl Cook about how it is better to look up!  I have thought about how we need to look to the Lord for help first and trust in his guidance.  Also, how we can't compare ourselves to those around us, but to always just keep climbing at the pace Heavenly Father has set for us.  Also how we obviously we live in the world, but we can live on that higher plane and not be of the world.  I made a great analogy in my journal about it and climbing the ladder in the SL temple to the Angel Moroni, but that is really long to type so maybe I will just copy it and mail it to you:)

Thursday, we met one of our investigators for lunch at Pizza Hut.  (Pizza Hut is actually a nice restaurant here, and pretty different from the US.  Still tasty though!)  She has been an investigator for a few years, and has progressed on and off, but she is super sweet.  I have met her a few times now.  She is going to graduate school for English interpretation, and so speaks English pretty well, and uses really funny colloquial phrases like "getting all dolled up" or "PDA".  It was pretty funny.  She has a big test on the 26th, so we can't meet again until after that, but I hope we can get her progressing then! 

Friday, we ate lunch with another investigator (who is sadly not progressing either but really likes us) which was fun, and then jundoed a bit and weekly planned.  Kind of an uneventful day!  (Except I did get letters from all of you which was very fun)

Saturday and Sunday, we watched conference!!!  I had downloaded it earlier in the week so had already listened to it, but it was fun to watch/listen again.  I listened through headphones and watched (except the timing was off by like 3 seconds in my ears from their mouths moving) while the Koreans listened to the translated version.  I loved it!!!  I especially loved President Eyring's talk!!  I loved how he combined talking about families, and obedience, and forgiveness, and happiness all in one talk.  It seriously answered a few of the questions I went into conference with which was awesome! I especially loved a few things he said.  One, about how the Lord will give us assurance of forgiveness in His time and in His way.  It makes repentance and the opportunity to grow such a personal experience.  It really makes me think about how much my Savior loves me individually, as well you, as the people I teaching here.  I also like how we said the Lord know what difficulties we will go through, and that is why he sent His son.  This makes me want to deepen my relationship with the Savior even more!  As I constantly reach out to him, I will be able to become what he needs me to be.  I also loved Elder Christofferson's talk on the value of women!  I am so excited to go back and watch/listen/read them all again.  I love that we have conference every 6 months and can learn so much new stuff!!!   I am also glad we have 6 months between to study and apply all that was taught in the previous conference. 

Stake Music Festival "Korean Fan Dance"

It has been a fun week! We are always busy, but then I think about it and I say, "what in the world have we even done this week?!"  Here's a brief summary for you all. 

Monday was P-Day of course.  We went and got lunch, I wrote letters while my companion slept, then we had family night at the church and did a puzzle of the Salt Lake temple someone sent one of the other missionaries.  Also made Ramen in the ginormous rice cooker for all the kids.  Like 10 packs.  Pretty funny. 

Tuesday, we taught our investigator that is like 16.  I helped her with her English homework again. Remember how I told you that the English books are messed up here?  Here is a sentence that was in one for the word "actually" that I thought was hilarious.  "Love is actually all around us.  It means you can find a soul mate near you."  What the heck right?!

Wednesday, we went to our weekly service project at what is basically day care for old people with Alzheimers.  The old ladies just like to tell me over and over how beautiful I am (which I don't really mind of course, but I think its just because I'm not Korean).  Its fun though.  We had English class and had 3 new people come which I was super excited about! 

Thursday, we had district meeting.  Part of district meeting is a short 10 min lesson, that in the past has just been to help learn Korean, but now President is pushing how our companions need to learn English too, so it is just a language lesson.  I taught it this week and used the scripture Moses 1:39.  I wrote each individual word in Korean and in English on different colored papers, then they had to match them and put the scripture in order.  I thought it was pretty clever. 

Friday, we went and ate at one of the Elder's investigator's parents restaurant.  We ate korean bbq, which was delicious of course, and then the elders ordered crab.  I ate one of the crab legs.  It was cold which was kind of weird, and super salty, but not bad.  I guess the shell part, they like to mix rice in with the meat and eat it.  I have pictures I will send. 

Saturday, there was a stake music festival.  Yes.  I did get to do a traditional Korean Fan Dance all dressed up in a Korean dress and everything!!!!!  Seriously it was so much fun.  We only practice a few times, so it wasn't perfect, but pretty fun.  I have a video, but I think it is too big to send, so you will just have to wait a while for that one and enjoy the pictures for now:)  They made us wear lots of make up, and the Korean girl that did it with us told me that one day, I will have to show my future husband these pictures.  She said I looked so beautiful that he would fall in love with me all over again.  Haha precious. 

Yesterday, church, MCM, visiting and old member, one of our investigators (who is not progressing but loves us) and that's about it! 

So there's my week.  The fan dance was definitely the highlight (in addition to teaching the gospel of course).   

To answer your questions:

The fall weather is awesome!  We really haven't had too much rain.  I think that the weather in Busan is kind of like Southern California.  Pretty nice most of the year, since its so close to the ocean. 

My companion is good.  She is funny.  We have learned how to work well together.  I've realized she doesn't like to talk lots, so I am becoming very comfortable with my own thoughts haha

We aren't getting huge amounts of missionaries.  We are at our max capacity, so the amounts coming in will be pretty slow from now on (at least that's what I've heard)

Read 2 Nephi 31:20.  I love how it focuses on that perfect brightness of hope.  As we use the light of Christ in our lives, we are better able to hope for all the things we are promised through the gospel, most importantly eternal life with our families in the presence of Heavenly Father.  As we do this, while studying the scriptures and enduring to the end, we have no need to fear. 

A few photos

A busy week!

Tuesday, we went and helped one of our investigators. She in her 3rd year of middle school, and has an English test this weekend so I helped her with her English homework.  I understand why Koreans think English is so hard, and sounds funny sometimes.  The grammar books here that they teach them out of are SO confusing.  I thought I knew English.  Not the way they teach it here! 

That afternoon, we also helped an old lady carry her grocery bags home to her house (yes they did have live crabs in them--they sell live crabs on the street just chillin in sawdust.  NBD)  and she was telling us all about how having babies is so expensive in America.  Random?  Yes.   She did say she had met with the missionaries probably like 30 years ago, and we were excited to go back and visit, but we saw her and her son on the street a few days later and she is going to live in Seoul with him so she can take care of him (she is like 94 or something like that).  I'm glad we could serve her though!!

Wednesday,  we hadn't really eaten much that day except for some lunch really early in the day, and some Kimbop, so after English class right before planning, we ordered pizza.  Some good comfort food:) (Except it had sweet potatoes on it.  The pizza here is crazy.  I have an extra menu I'll send you)

Thursday, we went to English class in Guejong.  These two old ladies come every week, and this week they came early because they wanted to bring us some rice cakes and other treats haha.  The rice cakes were good, but one of them brought onion juice.  Yes onion juice.  I brushed my teeth and used mouth wash like 5 times that night.  Good thing I don't get very close to people here.  Then during English, we were talking about Chuseok (the big holiday honoring their ancestors) and one of the ladies was talking about how she doesn't like bowing to their ancestors, and she likes what we teach about how after we leave our physical bodies, our spirits are still living.  She told her son not to bow to her after she dies, and to think of her as living instead! How sweet is that!  So I got to share about how my family members had just died and even though I am sad, I get to think of how happy they are right now!  Then for the closing song, I chose Families Can Be Together Forever.  I hope we have more chances to teach her about the Plan of Salvation!! 

Friday was Zone Conference.  We talked about obedience, and being a consecrated missionary.  President Gilbert talked about the Atonement and gave us a bunch of scriptures to study, which I haven't had time to do yet, but am really excited about.  We talked about something I had never thought of before.  Satan knows our potential too.  He saw how we fought in the War in Heaven.  He knows what we can be and knows that he can never get there.  This makes him want to work even harder on us.  I really want to work on not letting him get to me and think less of myself.  I thought about the Young Womens theme when we were talking about this and all of the potential we have as Daughters (and sons) of a loving Heavenly Father!  What a great promise! 

Then I did an exchange with a  great missionary and a great example!  We talked a lot about missionary work, and how sometimes we don't see the results of our efforts.  There's a scripture in 1 Corinthians 1 (don't remember what verse) where Paul says he came to Preach the Gospel, not to baptize.  We decided that we always need to remember this!  We also went to McDonals, ate Popbingsu (my favorite treat with ice cream and shaved ice) and some other treats because Sister Taylor, her companion, doesn't like treats haha

Sunday, we went to church and then found a less actives house to visit after.  I really don't know how we found it.  Addresses are crazy confusing here! 

This morning, I was studying in Preach My Gospel about the Plan of Salvation and there is a sentence under The Creation sentence that I really loved.  "We must walk by faith rather than by sight."  I don't know why this really hit me this morning.  We got to live with Heavenly Father before this life, and now on earth, we have to learn how to live with the Spirit as our comforter,and do all we can to return to live with Him again.  I was thinking about when I first left on my mission. I had a hard time because all my usual forms of comfort--calling Mom, taking a nap, drinking a few diet cokes, etc.--were all gone and I had to learn to rely purely on the spirit.  Then when I return home to all of you, I will know how to listen to the spirit, and live my normal life as I am constantly striving to be more like Jesus Christ.  I hope that makes sense.  

You asked about the language.  It is improving.  I don't know if you can tell by my writing, but my English grammar is getting seriously messed up.  I usually speak in as much Korean as I can with my companion, and will fill in English words as needed, but she doesn't usually know them, so when we talk we are constantly using the dictionary in our phone to communicate.  Its kind of hilairous.   I still have lots to learn, but my understanding really has jumped up so much since being in Daeshin.  When we're talking about gospel things, I can usually understand most of it, and other things, not as much, but that's ok.  I have to keep reminding myself there's even things in English I don't know the words for, so I'm bound to not understand everything!!! 

You also asked about weather.  There has been tons of rain this morning and yesterday, but it really hasn't been bad.  It has cooled down which is nice!  I will probably have to wear sweaters all the time in the next few weeks.  You can check temp online I guess haha.

I think that's about it for now.  I am glad I got to communicate with you all a little more this week, even if its not under circumstances we would have chosen.  I love you all SO SO much!!!  I hope you all have great weeks!

Em